Despite high-profile campai- gns and blistering heat, less than a third of motorists are checking the pressure in their car tyres at least once a fortnight as advised, reveals a new automotive study conducted in Saudi Arabia and the UAE by YouGov Siraj. The majority of respondents check their tyre pressure once every three to four weeks and some even less often. Most motorists are however replacing worn tyres at the recommended mileage intervals.

“With the summer upon us, it’s worrying that the majority of motorists are failing to carry out even relatively minor safety checks,” comments Vivek Wagle, research director at YouGov Siraj. “There still appears to be a lack of understanding on most motorists’ part about the danger of incorrectly inflated tyres and the campaigns just haven’t got the message across”

With this summer, expected to be one of the hottest on record, surprisingly only half of car owners have cars with tinted windows. More than half use a workshop/garage/car tinting shop, shunning tinting direct from the showroom or “branded” tint agencies. Whilst two thirds of respondents in the UAE are aware of the legal tint limit (30 per cent), only one fifth of Saudi residents know the tint legal limit for front windows (also 30per cent).

One of the positives to emerge from the study is 50 per cent of UAE and Saudi respondents indicate they would consider a more environmentally friendly car for their next purchase, irrespective of its price, size and appearance. There was also some good news for those who are routinely stuck in traffic – 41 per cent of the UAE residents claim they will use public or shared transport more frequently in the future.

The study was conducted online between 31st May and 8th June 2010 using the YouGov Siraj Omnibus in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and covered a sample of 760 and 759 respondents each.